Lime Pickle Recipe

The Start of a Lime Pickle

I've seen a few lime pickle recipes and they do vary quite a bit. I
had never tried to do this until I started this website, mostly because
the traditional way of making lime pickle invovles a fair bit of sunshine
and a couple of months, so it always seemed simpler to just buy jars
of the stuff.

Lime pickle is very popular in the west - particularly the UK - and
can be bought easily at supermarkets in both mild and hot versions.
The hot version can be quite wicked and when I went to India on business
a few years back my hosts were quite impressed that I liked their lime
pickle.

Anyway I got round to having a go, and, despite having to wait a couple
of months, I must say the result was really good.

It starts off very bright yellow and looking a bit weird; don't worry,
it turns out ok!

Most lime pickle recipes are on a moderately industrial scale and I
wasn't that brave. So the first point to note is that these quantities
will make about 1 good sized jar of lime pickle. Now I know that it
comes our well I will be making bigger quantities; maybe just 4 or 5
times as much or I may may loads of it.

Limes. I just bought standard limes from the supermarket and you cannot
always choose the size and type. The limes I got were quite big and
this makes for quite a chunky pickle (which I like) but it does take
a bit longer. A chef friend of mine can get the smaller limes with really
thin rind and these might be better; they do appear in the supermarkets
- I guess it depend on seasons and their suppliers etc.

Vinegar. I have seen lime pickle recipes with wine vinegar,malt vinegar,
some with lime juice and one with water(?). I chose to use both a little
lime juice and white wine vinegar and this worked well.

Chilli. Ah now here's the thing. I deliberately avoided calling this
a 'hot' or 'sweet' lime pickle recipe. Some lime pickles
can be really very hot, and I guess that is sometimes expected. But
a nice sweet lime pickle is also very nice. When I make the next (larger)
batch I will be experimenting with different quantities of chilli. It
is worth pointing out that the underlying pickle does contain quite
a bit of sugar (from the limes). This will counteract the chilli and
so you can use what might seem a fairly large quantity of chilli. I
used a teaspoonful of very hot chilli powder in 1 jar of pickle; I expected
it to be pretty hot but it turned out quite mild.

Oil. Some lime pickle recipes just use vegetable oil, some a mixture
of mustard and vegetable oil. I really like mustard oil so I use that.

Lime Pickle - Finished at last

Basic Method

Cut 4 of the 5 limes into pieces - quarters or smaller.
M ix with the salt and turmeric in a bowl so that all the pieces are
covered
Squeeze the juice from the remaining lime over this mixture
Now mix in the white wine vinegar and again mix well
Put in a jar and leave it in a sunny spot for about a month
Shake the jar every other day and maybe turn it upside down every week

After about a month crush some mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds with
a rolling pin (or grind for about 1 second)
Add these and the chilli powder to the jar and stir thoroughly
Add oil until it just covers the pickle
Leave for another week or so
Consume with pleasure

Notes on Method

If the limes are quite large with thicker skins they will take longer
to break down and soften up. You can cut larger limes into smaller pieces
which will take less time. Sunshine and temperature are also factors.
But, if you can bear the suspense, there is no harm in leaving the lime
pickle to marinate for a couple of months.

The last week is all about flavour and seasoning, and of course the
whole thing will improve with age.

This is a traditional lime pickle recipe; there is a quicker way which
involves cooking the limes and using more spices. I will try this at
some point - it is meant to be quite good.

You can eat lime pickle with just about anything.
I have eaten it with just left over rice. The one thing that a few people
who have tried this lime pickle recipe have mentioned is that it really
shouts LIME at you when you taste it. I love it.